Dynamo electric machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R. E. BALL; DYNAMO ELBGTRIO MACHINE.

No. 279,476. Patented June 12,1888.

(No Model.) 7 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

R. E. BALL. DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINE.

No. 279,476. Patented June 12,1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE R. EDWARD BALL, OF NEV YORK, N. Y..

DYNAMO-ELECTRIIC MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,476, dated June 12, 1883.

Application filed May 9, 1883. (N model.)

To all whom, it may concern Be'it known that I, R. EDWARD BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York,

in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dynamo-Electric Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section. of a dynamo-electric machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the armatures drawn to an enlarged scale, illustrating the position of the brushes. Fig. 3 is an. elevation of armatures and rings therefor, showing the latter connected to the former at two or more points. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of same. Fig. 5 is a diagram of armaturerings and commutator, illustrating the mode of arranging connection between said parts; and Figs. 6, 7, S, and 9 show modifications of my invention.

My invention has relation to dynamo-electric machines, and has for its object to mechanically simplify the same, to reduce the amount of copper used in their construction, to obtain increased efficiency in working effect, and to augment their electrical capacity.

It is well known that the dynamoelectrical. machine as a producer of electrical energy has a high efliciency, but its actual and practical efficiencyin the production of light is low, and probably in the most efficient plants does not exceed sixty per cent. of the mechanical energy expended in its production. lVhile a dynamo may convert, say, ninety per cent. of the mechanical energy transmitted to it into electrical energy, not much more than two thirds of that energy is utilized in the arc, the remainder being given oit as heat and dissipated in the machine itself, which in a great measure is due to the large ratio of the resistance of the machine to whole circuit. .Then, again, the capacity of the dynamo is to a certain extent limited, and to obtain large currents it must be run at a very high. rate of speed. If the diameter of the armature be in creased, the size of the pole-pieces of the field magnets must be enlarged. (Jonsequentl y their magnetic intensity for currents of equal magnitude is diminished, thereby requiring aproportionately stronger field. If the amount of wire 011 the armaturebe increased or wrapped to a greater thickness around its core, the lat ter or induced body is thereby moved farther away from the field of magnetic influence, which decreases the electrical efi'ect and i11 creases the resistance in the armature. To avoid such defects I employ two or more ar1natures of a particular construction, which re volve in proximity to one another, so that the magnetic polarity of one forms the inducing agent for the other, and vice versa; or, in other words, the armatures have a mutual inductive action up on each other. The a1 matures may be revolved in opposite directions, or in the same direction; but in all. cases they are so arranged and rotated that their inducing and induced parts move in opposite directions when. in proximityto one another. The armatures may be placed one within the other, or face to face or side to side; or they may be otherwise lo cated' in any suitable or desirable manner. The provision of two or more armatures, constructed as hereinafter described, to electrically act and react on each other to generate electrical energy permits of their extension to any desired size for the purpose of increasing their capacity to generate such energy. To augment the working efliciency of such current or energy, it is necessary to decrease the resistance which said arn'latures offer to the passage of the currents through them. Hence I bring the induced iron cores of the moving arinatures as close together as possible. To do so I cover them with but one or two layers of copper wire. 'lherei'ore by such construction ll not only effect a saving in the amount of copper used, thereby decreasing the resist ance in the armature or internal circuit of the dynamo, but also give the (-ore of each. arma ture the benefit of the electrical inductive force of the wire on the core of the other arma ture.

My invention has for its further object to provide an armature of very low resistance without materially decreasing its electrical. capacity. To accomplish such result, the armature is divided into a number of parallel cir cuits with corresponding polarity-points by connecting each commutator-block to said armature at two or more places. Referring to the accompanying drawings, A, Fig. 1, represents the base-plate or frame of a dynamo, having standards A A with elongated bearings A A", for separate shafts, B B, respectively, which are hollow and provided with driving-pulleys B" B", commutators C (7, and armatures E E. Each of the latter is securely mounted upon the end of its respective shaft, and they are shown as being one within the other, E being the external and E the .internal armature. Each armature is composed of an iron ring or annular core-piece, wound with endless coils of insulated wire in any desired or suitable manner; but I prefer to so wind said coils that the core-pieces C are brought near to each other as it is possible to do. (f onsequently but one or two layers of wire are coiled around said cores. The wires from armature E are brought out through shaft B to commutator C, and those from armature E through shaft 13 to commutator 0.

D I) represent brushes for the commutators, designed to be secured in suitable frames or standards. (Not shown in the drawings.)

The armatures E E are designed to be revolved, opposing each other; hence it will be seen from Fig. 2 that the points of opposite polarity of such armatures are always receding .t'rom each other while the points of the same polarity are approaching one another. The current forces do not therefore interfere with each other, as the direction of the current in the wire or coil on the inner side of arma ture E is the same as the direct-ion of the can rent in the wire or coil on the outer side of armatiu-e E, as indicated by the arrows .r a, Fig. l.

1' have described armatures constructed to generate tensioncturents; but they may also be made ol low or decreased resistance or have operating-circuits in parallel without impairi ng their capacity. Hence lI construct the armatures as shown in Figs. 3 and at, wherein a a" a, I) b b", &c., represent the coils or wires thereol' wound in sections upon a core in a manner correspoinling to the Pachinotti armature, the ends of the sections or helices being located at the points or division-lincs between such sections. As shown, there are forty-eight ot' the sections in each of the arn'lati'lres, which are provided with sixteen copper rings or sections of rings, H, \Vhen the armatures are placed one within the other, as shown in said ligures, the rings H for armature E are located upon its inner side, while those for armature E are placed external thereto, as illustrated. Each ring is connected to its respective armature at two or more points, so as to divide the armature into a series of parallel circuits with ap )1.'opriate polarity-points, in order to obtain an armature ot' lowresistance.

As the manner of making connection or circuit between the rings H and their armature and commutator is the same for both said armatures, I. will only describe such connections tor armature E, and in order to more plainly show the same, the rings H are represented in the form'of triangles, Fi 5, the angles of each triangle representing the points of connection between said rings and armature. .Eaeh ring or triangle is connected to the wires coming i'rom the sections a a at, &c., or to the armature in three places or points, as shown, and is also in circuit with a comnnitatonblock. Hence-each connnutator is composed of sixteen blocks, 1 2 3 at, &c.; or there are as many blocks in the commutator as there are rings H on the armature. I

In Fig. 5 a brush (not shown) is supposed to be in contact with connnutator-block1, and another brush in contact with block 9. the current entering the 'lormer passes from thence, as indicated by arrow y, to connections or sec tions a a a of the armature to make six parallel circuits through the same to sections or connections i i i of ring H, connected to the commutator-block 9 and brush in contact therewith. As the armature advances the blocks 8 and 16 are respectively brought in contact with said brushes, whereupon the current enters and leaves the same by means of the next set of rings and their armatureconnectiens, and so on for the entire sixteen. rings and connrmtator blocks. An. armature so constructed has six polarity-points, as im'licated by the letters N S in Fig. Such construction gives an armature ot' one-ninth as much resistance as that of the lachinotti arnm-ture,

and theoretically would have but one-third of its capacity; but in practice the capacity of my improved armature is eight or nine tenths of that of a corresponding size Pachinoiti and with but oneninth the resistance, for the reason that in the last-named machine the solt iron core of the armature must be of a size sutficient to carry the magnetism from the whole coil of the semicircle to the 1n larity-points, while in, my armature the core does not require so large an amount otmaterial, as it has only to carry the magnetism from each shunt or ring connect-ion to the polarity-point for that section. I am therefore able to reduce the amount of metal. used in the core ol. my improved armature, and thereby place the centers of magnetic field nearer together, and so increase the magnetic action or influence in a larger ratio.

I have shown and described armatures having iorty-eight sections or helices and sixteen rings H. therefor, each making three connections therewith; but it is not to be understocnl that only the above number may be used, as they may be increased or decreased, as desi red, and the rings H may have more than three connections with the armature or less than that number, if desired. The rings Hmaybc segmental sections arranged to form an annulus, or they may be split or mutilated at one or more points, as desired.

The armatures may be arranged adjacent to each other, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, and are placed upon separate shafts and revolve op IIO posing each other; but I do not confine my invention to such arrangement, as the armatures may be located upon parallel shafts, as illustrated in Fig. 8; or three or-more armatures may be arranged as shown in Fig. 9. In such case the brushes will be so located as to produce polarity-points, as represented'in said figures. In all said describedcases, however, it will be noticed that the inducing and induced parts of the armatures move in opposite directions as they pass or are in proximity to each other, and that the core-pieces 0 thereof are entirely covered or concealed by the endless coils or helices wrapped around them. The advantages of such construction are that the inducing and induced parts of each armature are always in opposing position to each other, such result being obtained irrespective of rates of speed with which the armatures are driven. Hence one armature may be revolved more rapidly than the other, and a continuous current or currents are induced in both armatures, and their full efiiciency in working effeet is obtained. While, on the other hand,

armatures having their coresalternately eX-- posed and concealed must be revolved at equal.

rates of speed and in unison with each other, so as to bring their inducing and induced parts opposite to each other at the same instant of time; otherwise the inductive action is only partial or is interrupted, thereby producing an intermittent current and a consequent loss of working capacity of the generator.

In all the above-described arrangements of of my improved armatures a small permanent or electro-magnetic field is used to initiate the magnetic action in or charge the armatures.

' By reversing the location of the brushes and including the armatures in the circuit of an electric battery or generator the device may be used as a motor.

I do not herein broadly claim the combination of two armatures which mutually induce each other, or which act as a field and an armature for one another; nor do I broadly claim a common circuit, commutator, and brush-connections combined therewith, as they form the subject-matter of aseparate and pending application filed July 1, 1882, N 0. 65,699, of which this is a division.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In a dynamo-electric machine, the combination of two or more revolving armatures, each of which consists of an iron ring wound with an endless coil of insulated wire, which is, at regular intervals around its circumference, connected to corresponding separate blocks of v the commutator therefor, substantially as shown and described.

2. I11 a dynamo-electric machine, the combination of two or more revolving armatures with their respectivecommutators, each armature being connected at two or more points around its circumference with each block of of its commutator, substantially as shown and described.

3; In a d'ynamoelectric machine, the combination of two or more iron rings each wound with an endless coil of insulated wire, drivingshafts, and commutators therefor, said coils and commutators being in circuit with each other, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a dynamo-electric machine, the 00111- bination of two or more revolving armatures and a series of copper or metal rings for each said armature, each ring having two or more points of connection with its respective armature, and being connected to a block of the com mutator therefo substantially as shown and described. I

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

R. EDIVARD BALL.

Vitnesses:

S. J. VAN STAVOREN, XVM. H. WooDHULL. 

